WebInterpreter - The Future of Video Interpretation

Is this the future for translating and Interpreting? Technology is rapidly changing the way we communicate every day, either via text, Facebook live chat, Skype etc so why not use it to expand our translation and interpreting services. 

We are fully aware at Convocco most people prefer face to face communication but

Convocco’s web-based videoconferencing service has the convenience of not having to find someone quickly in your area and it's proven to be just as effective as face-to-face interpreting. This also eliminates and travel costs so really as an extra service it's a winner all round.

Benefits:

• Unlimited free training
• Instant access with no delays
• WenInterpreter removes the need for time-consuming security clearance
• You can choose to have a video recording or transcript of your session
• No need to travel benefitting the environment and reduces carbon emissions

WebInterpreter is very easy to set up and can be attached to your PC, laptop, tablet or smartphone. No software to install as it's used through your web browser. Simple and effective.

Hayder Al-Ani
www.convocco.com

The Internet’s Harmful Effect on Languages

By: Hayder Al-Ani

Everyone knows just how wonderful the internet is. It is a treasure trove of information of all shapes and sizes. Its virtually unlimited potential can be used potentially both for a great deal of good or harm.

However, one of the most harmful effects of the internet – apart from the usual complaints against inappropriate content, exploitation and abuse, internet bullying, over-usage, advertisements and spam among others – is the negative effect it is having on languages.

Languages are in essence, systems of communication (whether verbal or nonverbal). They constitute the basic mechanism by which humans (and other organisms too) communicate and exchange information with one another. It takes years if not centuries for languages to develop and blossom into distinct and discernible means of expression. Today, the most popular languages across the globe are English, Chinese (Mandarin), French, Spanish and Arabic.

Through the widespread dissemination of the internet, different nations and their associated cultures and languages have spread their influences across their physical borders. No longer are once parochial languages like Flemish or Swahili reserved to specific geographical focal points but are now instead,

available globally through various sources for all to see. Recent free web technologies like Google Translate among others have made it even easier for the interpreting of one language to another and the translation of obscure languages – thereby bridging communication gaps. Image source:
 

Paid software, like Convocco’s interpreting and translation (including its face to face, telephone and video interpreting) service has also contributed to improving linguistic understanding both in the UK and abroad. In spite of the greater reach and scope of spreading and popularizing languages, not all languages are benefiting from the phenomena. According to a recent study by Norwegian linguist Andras Kornai, less than 5 percent of world languages are in use online – resulting in the other 95 percent of global languages being left out. This does not bode well for the shelved majority as according to the Alliance for Linguistic

Diversity, already over 40 percent of the world’s languages are endangered. Even countries with multiple official languages or language dialects can witness such glaring inequities. Kornai cited the sweeping differences in the use of Norway’s two official languages – being Bokmal and Nynorsk – as a case study. Though both receive equal support in government and business, Bokmal is immensely more popular online for its associations with Norway’s advertising, music, fashion and entertainment.

In a different light, major languages too, are susceptible to the harmful effects the internet has on languages. Owing to the universal use of the language across the World Wide Web, no language is more vulnerable to the harmful effects internet than English. Over the years, various groups and subcultures have devised their own slang and terminologies whether they were computer programmers, hackers, internet gamers, porn viewers, or more recently, teenage chatters (the so-called “netizens”) on instant messaging services and social networks and their insatiable use of shorthand abbreviations, symbols and emotions.Networks like Facebook and Twitter have only compounded the situation. No longer are children today content with spelling out and articulating their emotions online. Rather, most would prefer to abbreviate what they want to say – using such conveniences like LOL (laugh out loud), ROFL (rolling on the floor laughing),

BTW (by the way), IDK (I don’t know), BRB (be right back), G2G (got to go) among others. Recent technologies like the meme (an image with user-generated wording) have further worsened the situation. Rather than using popular slang words and acronyms, certain expressions have gained a lot of traction through many social networking sites like ‘you only live once (YOLO),’ ‘faith in humanity restored,’ ‘epic fail,’ ‘Photoshop level 9000,’ etc. The worst problem of them all seems to be deliberately misspelling words and using bad grammar when chatting with others, for instance using “welcs” for welcome, “selfie” for self-picture or putting everything in lowercase including proper nouns and names like I, John, Smith, Washington, etc. in an effort to “fit in” and be more accepted and “cool.”

A similar, but equally starting fact is how modern internet users prefer seeing graphics and pictures over reading letters and words. With the barrage of content found online, people nowadays resort to looking at images online to “understand.” Hence the pervasive use of emoticons (i.e. smiley faces) and infographics in place of traditional text and articles.

Indeed the continuing saturation of the internet presents both benefits and challenges. Among the most pressing is how it is negatively affecting global languages – whether it’s shoving them into oblivion or eroding the very integrity and soundness of the language. The future of the translation and interpretation of languages will be a challenging one. In this respect, as human beings, we must do whatever it takes to preserve all languages and ensure their continuance for future generations to practice and articulate.

By Hayder Al-Ani
Convocco Ltd

TRANSLATION NEWS: EU Intellectual Property and Trade mark proposals

Source: EU trade mark proposals sound wrong, in any language

Article by James Nurten

''Some of the proposed changes in the European Comission's recently published trademark proposals are confusing practitioners and worrying brand owners. The changes concern which languages should be taken into account when considering absolute grounds for refusal. ''

Read the rest here.

Cracow Translation Days 2013 – Preliminary Programme Announced

Source: Cracow Translation Days 2013 – Preliminary Programme Announced

Kontax - Cracow Translation Days 2013 - Frankfurt am Main - Germany -The preliminary programme of the Cracow Translation Days 2013 has been announced. The conference will feature talks and workshops by industry leaders such as Chris Durban, Marta Stelmaszak and Nick Rosenthal as well as an extensive social programme.
Both new developments and best practice will be covered by:Anne Diamantidis (Your LinkedIn profile: Dress your Shop Window to the World)Chris Durban (Keynote Address; Working the Room)Jean Nitzke (Post-Editing – Job Killer or New Opportunity?)Jerzy Czopik (Quality Assurance)John Moran (Machine Translation – A Waste of Time?)Katarzyna Slobodzian-Taylor (Promoting a Professional Image in the Online Realm)Nick Rosenthal (Customer Service: What We Can Learn from Other Sectors)Marian Dougan (Spreading the Language Love: Translators and Educational Outreach)Marta Stelmaszak (Blue Ocean Strategy – Can Translators Make Competition Irrelevant?)Ralf Lemster (Welcome Address)Sabine Dievenkorn (Translating a Religion)Siegfried Armbruster (Aligning the Internet)Stefan Gentz (Building High-Performance Teams – Make ‘em Click!)
Registration is now open. The conference fee (EUR 495 excluding VAT) includes conference attendance, accommodation, meals, a the trip to Wieliczka salt mine (including dinner) as well as a guided tour of Cracow.
The Cracow Translation Days are a non-profit conference. All proceeds go in equal shares to St Lazarus Hospice and the children's charity Rupert Mayer Foundation.
For more information, please visit www.cracow-translation-days-2013.com, find us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter(@TranslationDays).
---
The Cracow Translation Days – an international non-profit conference for professional translators – will be held from 6–8 September 2013 in the Benedictine abbey of Tyniec, 13 km southwest of Cracow.

Contact
Organization Cracow Translation DaysLast name RuethFirst name LisaURL http://www.cracow-translation-days-2013.com

Cutting A&E use and health inequalities | Practice | Nursing Times

Source:  Cutting A&E use and health inequalities | Practice | Nursing Times

Many people are increasingly going to accident and emergency departments when they could visit a GP. One scheme aimed to improve education and cut attendances
IN THIS ARTICLE…

• Why patients choose A&E over GP practices

• Steps taken to reduce A&E attendance

• Evaluation of the A&E attendance-reduction programme

Authors
Annie Ford is diversity programme manager at MertonHealthcare; Debra de Silva is head of evaluation at The Evidence Centre; and Sima Haririan is general manager at Merton Healthcare.

ABSTRACT
Ford A et al (2013) Cutting A&E use and healthinequalities. Nursing Times; 109: 24, 14-16.
In south west London, nurses, community workers, GPs and others have worked together to develop a programme that supports migrant communities, resulting in a reduction in their use of accident and emergency services. The programme included setting up community education sessions, six-week courses, and bilingual advocacy and interpretation services. Its success relied heavily on the team getting to know local communities, working in partnership and making time to develop trust. The lessons learnt from establishing these services are discussed to help readers improve their equality and diversity practice.

• This article has been double-blind peer reviewed

• Figures and tables can be seen in the attached print-friendly PDF file of the complete article in the ‘Files’ section of this page

5 KEY POINTS

1. People in the most deprived areas generally have the lowest life expectancy

1. There are growing pressures on accident and emergency departments across the UK

1. Health and social services are required by law to undertake equality and diversity assessments and implement diversity plans

1. By choosing to attend A&E rather than go to a GP, individuals are missing out on vital preventive services and support

1. Working in partnership with community groups and charities can help health professionals access hard-to-reach groups

Merton is a leafy borough in south west London, perhaps best known for housing Wimbledon. It may be surprising to learn that 27% of Merton’s population is from minority ethnic groups (Office for National Statistics, 2011). Like many areas, the population in Merton is increasing and getting older, while health and social care resources are limited and a large proportion of the health workforce is heading towards retirement (Merton Council, 2007). People from migrant communities are often not registered with a GP or tend to visit accident and emergency departments rather than using primary care.
Given resource and staffing constraints, it is not sustainable for whole groups of the population to bypass primary care. By not attending GP clinics, this group is also missing out on essential preventive services and support - often coping with progressively deteriorating conditions until they reach crisis point.
Throughout the UK, there is a strong link between deprivation and health inequalities, with the most deprived areas generally having the lowest life expectancy (Randhawa, 2007). These areas also tend to have a higher prevalence of smoking, obesity, unhealthy eating and risky drinking behaviour (Johnson, 2006). This is of particular significance in Merton, where it is not uncommon for a third of geographic wards to be made up mainly of those from minority ethnic populations, including people from eastern Europe and South East Asia.
We audited local data and found 43% of A&E attendance occurred on weekdays, in working hours. GP practices with the highest number of weekday A&E users were in areas of socioeconomic deprivation and high multi-ethnicity.
Aims of the programme
In 2010, we met with nurses, doctors, community groups and commissioners to address how to reduce the high rates of A&E use. We aimed to target migrant communities with education and support.
Government policies highlight the need to support diverse groups (Department of Health, 2010; Home Office, 2010) and health and social services are required by law to undertake equality and diversity assessments, and implement diversity plans (University of Stirling, 2009). We took a more proactive approach, with nurses and other professionals working side by side with community groups to support a change in mindset in the hope that changing how people think and feel would ultimately lead to healthierbehaviour and more sustainable use of health services. The broad aims of the programme were to:

• Strengthen disadvantaged communities through targeted health interventions;

• Break the cycle of inequalities;

• Tackle major issues such as smoking, obesity, diabetes and heart disease;

• Improve access to good-quality health services;

• Learn new ways of working and roll out good practice to neighbouring areas.

Setting up the programme
Over the past two years, the Government Office for London funded Merton Healthcare (now part of Merton Clinical Commissioning Group) to provide targeted support for migrant communities. This work is being expanded into neighbouring areas with funding from NHS South West London Public Health.
Our programme involved three key strategies:

1. A bilingual advocacy service was set up to signpost people to NHS services, run education workshops, identify ambassadors in the community and provide interpreting and translating services in GP practices and at home visits. Bilingual health advocates were able to help health professionals provide more responsive services because they understood the community and cultural influences on health, such as fasting or the use of alternative remedies.

1. A six-week education programme was developed and run by a multidisciplinary team, including nurses, health coaches, paramedics, pharmacists, midwives, nutritionists and falls specialists. The programme helped participants set their own health goals and become mentors in their communities to share what they learnt.

1. Large-scale educational open days were run in community venues to create a friendly environment where local people could meet professionals and ask for advice.

Outcomes of the programme
The programme has had a marked effect on how organisations work together, migrant people’s health behaviours and the use of hospital services. Some of the programme outcomes are listed below:

• Audits have helped to enhance our understanding of the demographics of the area so services can be targeted appropriately;

• A health diversity framework has been developed based on feedback from local people;

• More patients from migrant groups are registering at GP practices and a new migrant registration policy has been developed;

• Data about ethnicity and language preferences is being collected more routinely and more effectively at GP practices;

• Migrant communities report feeling more educated and empowered to use GP and pharmacy services, rather than always relying on A&E (Box 1);

• Colleges, health fairs, the YMCA, homeless charities and the heads of education are rolling out education strategies to help younger migrants, who are less likely to register with a GP, understand how to access services;

• Partnerships have been developed with many stakeholders including patient representative groups, community groups, GPs, ambulance, pharmacy, midwifery and nutrition services,

• Live Well projects, local authorities, libraries, children’s centres, schools and charities;

• A dedicated team has been set up to promote diversity;

• A bilingual health advocacy service has been set up to provide translators and undertake health promotion. Materials have been translated into languages such as Tamil, Polish, Urdu and Somali and there are plans to run antenatal classes in Tamil and Polish;

• The education model for smoking cessation has been reviewed and a new GP practice-based model has been launched in the Tamil and Polish languages;

• Over a two-year period, 22 six-week Help Yourself to Health education programmes have been run in schools, community centres, temples, mosques and other community venues, with 332 participants. Sessions focus on self-care, first aid at home and understanding how to access GPs, community pharmacists, A&E and other health services;

• Four Stop the Clock information days have been held in community venues to provide advice about diabetes, smoking, heart disease and weight management. In total, 160 people attended a day about diabetes, 170 attended a Happy Heart event, 156 attended a Breathe Easy event and 36 NHS champions, patients, charity leads and council leads shared learning at a stakeholder event;

• Smoking and weight-management clinics have been run at GP practices and community centres;

• Flu vaccination clinics for homeless people have been promoted in collaboration with community pharmacists and a local charity. Over a one-year period, 40 homeless people received flu vaccinations and 33 received health checks;

• Cultural awareness training has been delivered to 50 service providers including nurses, teachers, social workers, health visitors, children’s centre workers and physiotherapists. This includes a discussion of the education, health and insurance services in other countries and how this might impact on migrants’ expectations of the NHS.

It is important to note that there is a trend towards reducing the tidal wave of unnecessary A&E attendances in Merton. Since 2002, attendances at A&E departments across England have risen sharply. In 2009-10, over 20.5 million people attended A&E - an increase of almost 5% from the previous year (DH, 2012). This increase is thought to be due to confusion over GP out-of-hours services and a rise in migrant populations, members of whom are less likely to register with a GP and, therefore more likely to use A&E services.
In Merton, increases were also apparent (Table 1), but the health diversity initiative is helping to address this trend. Since the programme began in 2010, overall A&E usage rates have declined by 3%. This reduction is even more marked in the five practices serving the most deprived areas, which have received targeted support. Here, there have been reductions in A&E usage of around 10% (Table 2).
There remains work to do, but the trends are positive.
Implications for practice
The lessons learnt in Merton are applicable to many other areas; Box 2 outlines how to set up user-friendly services for minority ethnic groups.
The issue tackled here is pertinent throughout the UK - birth rates are rising and people are living longer, while there are increasingly diverse groups of people from different cultures, religions and demographic groups. Finances are becoming scarcer so commissioners, nurses and others at the frontline need to focus on preventive services and early interventions and to target people with higher levels of need.

References:
Department of Health (2012) Reforming Urgent and Emergency Care Performance Management.
Department of Health (2010) Equity and Excellence: Liberating the NHS. London: The Stationery Office.
Johnson MRD (2006) Racial and Ethnic Inequalities in Health: A Critical Review of the Evidence. Warwick: University of Warwick.
Merton Council (2007) Ethnic Minority Strategy. Merton: Merton Council.
Office for National Statistics (2011) Population Estimates by Ethnic Group: Greater London Authority. London: Office for National Statistics.
Randhawa G (2007) Tackling health inequalities for minority ethnic groups: challenges and opportunities. Better Health Briefing 6. London: Race Equality Foundation.
University of Stirling (2009) Single Equality Scheme 2009-2012. Stirling: University of Stirling.